Women Affairs

A top jeweler says Dodi Fayed told him he and Diana, Princess of Wales, were getting engaged weeks before their deaths. Alberto Repossi also says American spies would have known about the imminent announcement because they were bugging Dodi's calls. Repossi, who has a shop opposite the Ritz Hotel in Paris owned by Dodi's father Mohamed Al Fayed, says Dodi made the revelation in a telephone call to discuss resizing a ring he had ordered. He says he received a call from Dodi who told him he needed this ring for the end of August because their engagement would be announced at the beginning of September. Repossi claims to have subsequently met the couple secretly in a hotel in St Tropez in the south of France to show them the ring and other jewellery which he thought the princess might be interested in. But in evidence to Diana's inquest by video link from Paris, Repossi said he could not remember which hotel it was. He says he didn't tell Scotland Yard investigators ...

Julia May As the inquest into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and her boyfriend, Dodi Al Fayed, began in London yesterday, it emerged that a holiday video shot by two Australian tourists 10 years ago will be used as evidence. In his opening statements at the Royal Courts of Justice, the coroner, Lord Justice Scott Baker, warned the 11 jurors against becoming caught up in the sensationalism of the case. He reminded them that it is an "inquisitorial" investigation into the truth of the events that leading to the fatal car crash in 1997, not an "adversarial" criminal trial. Lord Baker's comments stood in contrast with those of Dodi's father, the millionaire businessman Mohamed Al Fayed, who has long fought to prove that the crash was the result of a plot devised by the Duke of Edinburgh and British spies. Arriving at the inquest, Mr Fayed said: "I am hoping for justice. After fighting for 10 years at last we are going to have a jury of ordinary peo...

Princes William and Harry today led moving tributes to Princess Diana, saying she was the best mother in the world. Ten years to the day since Diana lost her life in a car crash in Paris, her sons addressed a memorial service in her honour at Wellington Barracks, near Buckingham Palace. The moving service was watched on TV by millions worldwide. The princes were greeted with cheers from the crowd lining the Mall as they arrived. The Queen was also met with cheers despite the fallout over her public response to Diana’s death. In his speech, Prince Harry said his mother should be remembered with love, adding: “We completely took for granted her unrivalled love of life. She was simply the best mother in the world.” Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, stayed away but well-known figures including Prime Minister Gordon Brown,Sir Richard Branson, Sir Cliff Richard, Lord Attenborough and Sir Elton John were among the 500 guests. At Kensington Palace, Diana’s former residence, hundreds of peopl...